Frank Lampard has hailed England's newfound 'self belief' under head coach Fabio Capello after last night's 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Ukraine took them a step closer to next summer's finals in South Africa.
Captain John Terry's late strike cancelled out Andriy Shevchenko equaliser to maintain England's 100 per cent winning form in Group Six and the Chelsea midfielder believes it's all down to a quality they have previously lacked.
'Maybe you wouldn't have seen that reaction a couple of years ago.,' Lampard told the London Evening Standard.
Bulldog spirit: Frank Lampard believes England's newfound self belief under Fabio Capello spurred them onto victory over Ukraine
'There is more confidence around the team, which has come from the results and performances over the last 12 months.
England 2 Ukraine 1: Terry enjoys final glory as Three Lions eye South Africa World beater! Terry's late winner takes England a step closer to the finals MARTIN SAMUEL: Capello Capps it to perfect effect 'We are united as a group, and have a more confident outlook. When you have that, it is much easier to react well to going a goal down or being pegged back.
'Everyone has always been confident when they play for their clubs, but there was a period of time when we weren't performing as a group for our country.
'We didn't get the right results, and we became less confident in the England shirt. Maybe the new manager coming in has helped that. We always knew we had it in us, it was just a case of bringing it out of ourselves.
Goal hero John Terry, meanwhile, insists there is 'still an awful long way to go' before England can start celebrating qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals.
'We have now beaten everyone in the group but there is still an awful long way to go and we are certainly not getting carried away.
For the fans: England skipper John Terry celebrates his winning goal and paid tribute to the Wembley crowd for their support
'We are in a great position in the group. To make it five wins out offive is massive. Ukraine have still got a game in hand but it puts usin a really good position.'
The Chelsea defender also believes that Wembley is starting to become a fortress for England paying tribute to the sell-out crowd who drove the team on to victory.
He added: 'Wembley is starting to feel a bit more like a home for England because, when it went 1-1, the fans all got behind us and showed the support we know they can do.
'They are like an extra man and they pushed us to go on and get the winning goal and eventually it came.
The desire of the English players to dig deep and get a result was massive.'
England 2 Ukraine 1: Terry enjoys final glory as Three Lions eye South Africa World beater! Terry's late winner takes England a step closer to the finals MARTIN SAMUEL: Capello Capps it to perfect effect